


Daddy Issues

by ZigguratRolsovitch



Series: Jedi Academy 101 [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Jedi Academy AU, Rey and Ben on father's day, fatherless day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 14:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14956794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZigguratRolsovitch/pseuds/ZigguratRolsovitch
Summary: Jedi Academy AU: It's a day that has always made Rey feel particularly alone. Watching all the other students celebrating when she has none, but Rey quickly comes to realize that she's not quite as alone as she initially thought.





	Daddy Issues

Rey sighed as she loaded up her sparring gear into her locker. It had been a long day at the academy. They had another big test in preparing the padawans to become knights and she was dreading the grade that she might get back. She didn't know what she would do if she failed. The last thing that she wanted to do was end up like Ben Solo. Forever condemned to be a padwan because of his temperament.

Closing the locker she paused to wipe some sweat from her brow and glanced up at the TV screen to see some sort of galaxy wide celebration that was taking place. A whole parade dedicated to it.

Father's day.

While it might be a happy occasion to most people... for her... it just reminded her of something that she didn't have. Of something she had lost and of something that she would never, ever get the chance to experience.

Today always seemed to get her down like nothing she had ever experience. While it did get her down she did work hard to struggle and keep herself from sinking too far. She would just immerse herself in her studies and keep going. Day to day like she always did.

She turned to keep walking and didn't realize when she accidentally slammed into another one of the girls. Spilled her drink all down her robes and Rey gaped.

"I'm so sorry..." Rey tried to apologize until she realized who it was that she had run into. A girl that she had once been good friends with, but... for some reason over the years no longer was because people changed. Not always for the better. In this case... it hadn't been for the better.

"Why don't you pay attention to where you're going?!" Crena Ki shook her hands to try to rid herself of the disgusting drink, accidentally getting a little on her cousin that always seemed to be up her ass. Rey had never liked her cousin Cels Pan App.

"Really. I'm sorry." Again she did try to apologize, but Cels seemed to have none of it. For some reason thought she had to attack on her cousins behalf.

"What has you so distracted, Rey?" Cels glanced up at the TV and then it seemed some horrid scheme had popped into her head. She suddenly pulled her datapad out, mock sincerity on her face. "Oh, hold on. My dad is calling. You'd know all about that." And then that expression changed to something cruel, downright evil. "Oh wait... you _wouldn't_."

Rey stood there stunned for several moments. In all her life she had never known that someone could ever be so cruel to another living being, but she had been proved wrong and she was seeing the proof of that cruelty.

"Sticks and stones." Rey took a deep breath and repeated Luke's mantra.

"I think you mean sticks and stones, but get over yourself!" Cels snapped.

There were a lot of things that Rey should be feeling, but at the moment she just didn't feel anything at all and she decided that it was time to quickly end this conversation.

She did the only thing that was possible in that moment. She retreated and left. Let the girls feel like they had some sort of sick victory over her. Though once she was outside she couldn't quite shake the disappointment that she felt. If those girls were to be future Jedi... beacons of righteousness and justice... then the future was looking a bit hopeless and dim.

Wrapping her arms around herself against the chill of the evening she decided that she needed the cool air to clear her head and so she kept walking, but the entire time she just kept thinking that if they were the future of the Jedi then... well... Rey felt like she wanted to be no part of it.

Before she knew it she realized that she had arrived at the hanger. Perhaps because the old ships were something that had always cheered her up. Made her feel better. In here she could daydream about what it was like to fly one of them. One day she would. When she was a Jedi and she could fly them all across the galaxy.

There she noted in the corner Luke's iconic fighter and she almost smiled, but she couldn't quite bring herself to. It wasn't in her. Not on a day like this.

A deep, masculine sigh alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone and she peaked around one of the ships in the hanger and noticed Ben Solo sitting there all alone. Not that him sitting alone wasn't usual. It was just... she didn't know what he was doing in the hanger by himself. She hoped he wasn't planning on running away.

Her gaze dropped down to the piece of paper in his large hands and she realized that Ben must be waiting for his father to show up. That must be a special gift for him. Only... the sun was setting and it was obvious that Han hadn't shown up.

In fact Rey couldn't seem to remember a time that Han had ever shown up. Save for the time that Ben had gotten in trouble for stealing Luke's fighter. That day he had met her. No... Han never showed up. It led her to the realization that the two of them were a lot more alike than she ever could have imagined.

She watched as Ben reached over for a blowtorch for ship repairs in the kit next to him and lifted the paper high in front of him before igniting the corner, whatever words he might have written for his father going up in flames and becoming lost forever.

"Well... don't just stand there, Rey. By all means... come in." He dropped the paper onto the ground and then tossed the torch back into the kit.

"I wasn't trying to pry." She replied softly and watched the shift of his broad shoulders as he shrugged.

"I know.... so why are you here...?"

"Just... trying to get away."

"Why? What happened?" His tone changed and he looked up from the ashes abruptly. While they didn't talk much anymore... she knew that Ben was always someone that would protect her. He always had been.

"I... had a rather... unpleasant run in with the infamous cousins."

"Ah... those two..." Ben deadpanned. "What did she say this time? You know... I think her ass must be jealous of the shit the comes out of her mouth."

"Ben!" She couldn't believe what he'd said and she tried to look outraged, but she couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face.

"What? I'm not a jedi. I can say whatever I feel like saying about those people." He sighed and shook his head. Though she thought she saw the hint of a smile. "Really. If I wanted to kill myself... I would just climb her ego and then jump to her IQ."

"Ben, comeon..." It was getting hard not to laugh and she was sure that he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Tsk. She must've been born on a highway. That's where most accidents happen." That was what sent her over the edge. She had been trying so hard and now she had burst into laughter on a day when she would have otherwise thought it impossible. "Alright, but there is one thing I have to confess. I really love what she does with her hair. I just... wonder how she gets it to come out of the nostrils like that."

"You... are so lucky Master Luke isn't here to hear you." Rey struggled to pull herself together and finally straightened up, had to wipe a tear from her eye she had laughed so hard.

"I'm just another padawan, remember?" He shoved some of the ashes around with his boot and then glanced up at her again. "Do you want to go for a ride?"

"A ride?" She stared at him as he said it and was about to say no. That they shouldn't break the rules, but then... Ben had really tried to make her feel better and she realized that he must feel just as bad as she had moments ago.

The other students said those sorts of things to Ben all the time. They tormented him and laughed at him and he had to siletly deal with it all alone... and today he also had to deal with the fact that his father wasn't around.

"He makes it too easy to steal..." He jerked a thumb towards Luke's fighter and Rey wasn't so sure it was a good idea, but she felt like he needed this more than she did.

"What if we get caught?"

Ben shoved himself off the crate he'd been sitting on and then he made his way over to the fighter, opened up the cockpit and pulled himself inside of it.

Once he was in he leaned over the side and held a hand out for her. She was skeptical of course... wasn't too sure that she'd fit in there with him, but she took his hand, felt him easily pull her up with him and then she settled into the seat in front of him.

Flipping the switches to power it on he pulled the out of the hanger and out into the free, open sky. The sun was still setting. The view from up here was amazing. To be able to watch the ground from above. To see the sun dying the lake and trees a vivid vermilion. If she had been second guessing this choice then she wasn't any longer. Even if they ended up getting caught the view was more than worth it.

And despite all of that Rey still noticed the solid warmth behind her. It was comforting to be so close to someone that you knew would always protect and take care of you. She could almost slip right into sleep against him.

"Am I boring you?" She felt the rumble of his chest as he spoke. "Do you want to fly?"

"You're going to let me fly?" That woke her up.

"You're a big girl, Rey. It's about time you learned."

Taking a deep breath she reached up to take the controls and watched his hands leave it. She had both some excitement and nervousness run through her at the prospect of flying herself. It was scary to think that she might mess up, but it was also freeing that she had all this control and all this open space.

"Sometimes I can't believe that when I'm a Jedi I'll have my own." She stated softly, felt him shift a little behind her and drop his hands down to her elbows. "On Jakku I never thought I would own anything. Especially not my own ship."

"You're going to go far, kid." He stayed silent for the most part and eventually dropped his hands away to let her have full control. It was one of those moments that would linger forever in memory.

"Ben?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you for this."

"You're welcome, Rey."

There was another long pause between them and they were both aware that the sun was gone now and it was completely dark. That they should head back.

"Do you think... we can stay just a little longer?"

"We can stay as long as you want."

 

~FIN~  
  


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A/N: This is dedicated to everyone having as difficult day as me today having to face father's day without a father. The line about the father was actually something that was said to me when I was younger by some girls that bullied me and I thought... well... it'll make a good story.


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